Thursday, November 15, 2007

WGA Strike Hoopla

.:The Writer's Strike:.

While I am by no means an expert when it comes to the whole issue of this strike, I think it's fair to say that the writers have every right to call a strike, given how screwed they have been of residuals from DVD's and the like that they should've been getting all these years.

The networks are shafting these writers by doing what they do. It is very clear that they are making money from downloads and netcasts of their programming, yet the writers do not receive anything for it. When an episode of "Heroes" gets downloaded off of I-Tunes, it makes absolutely no sense for the writers not to get any money off of that, either. They are intellectually and morally entitled to a share of the pie because that is *their* idea on the line right there. They wrote the script, and they deserve compensation for any subsequent uses of their "product", if you will.

There are two big arguments against the WGA strike, and I will proceed to outline them for you. The first argument is simplistic, and selfish. Most strike naysayers are merely concerned with the fact that they are not going to be able to watch their favorite show if the strike persists, and are completely oblivious, or worse, apathetic, to the issues at hand. Such thinking deserves no endeavor to rectify, since it's obvious what's wrong there.

The second argument goes as such: writers are an overpaid lot, who are throwing their weight around and in the end, the small people get hurt, such as the poor lightsman, the grip guy, and so forth, since there's no show for them to tape since there's nobody writing the show they work in. It's a two-pronged argument, both glossing over very important facts. Let's break them down very carefully...

Are writers an overpaid lot? Quite frankly, to say this is to paint in broad strokes. Not everyone is a Joss Whedon or a Steve Carell or even a JK Rowling. Those people are the upper echelon who command high incomes. They skew the average, because the true average writer probably only makes one million pesos a year, in a country where the cost of living is at least five times as high as the Philippines. It's not minimum wage, but it's not mansion money, either.

Is it the writer's fault if mr. lightsman or mr. grip guy loses their job? No, it's not. To say that is to say that it's okay for writers to be trampled upon to protect other people's interests, instead of pressuring networks and studios to do what is right for everyone. If your favorite show gets canceled because the writer went on strike, to say it's the writer's fault your show got canceled and their fault that every bit player behind the camera lost their job is ludicrous. The networks and the studios brought it upon everyone, and these bit players are not the direct responsibility of the writers, either. If anything, they're the direct responsibility of the negligent and malingering studios that hired them.

So yes, I support the writer's strike. Let them strike for as long as they need. Without writers, there are no shows or even movies to be made. To eff them over is one of the worst things you could do.

Makes you wonder how the actors and directors will be mobilizing when the ball is in their court...

.:In Da Clubs:.

Well, looks like I'm moderating two clubs for Reedley for the next two quarters... things ought to be interesting.